Miserable nurses

Nurses General Nursing

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This is more a vent, because i had a horrible day at the hospital today. As a nursing student I was assigned to one of the nurses at DEU facility. At 7am I introduced myself and let her know I will be working with her. She looked at me, didn't say anything and left. I literally ran after her. She was getting a report when the patient started complaining how everyone gives her different diagnosis and she can't trust anyone. As soon as we stepped outside of the room (night shift nurse, my nurse and I), PCT informed the nurse that patient wants to talk to the head of the hospital. Charged nurse told my nurse to just talk to the patient again and try to calm her. At the same time, the night nurse told me to stay outside of the room while they are talking inside (so that patient doesn't get even more agitated).

I was standing outside of the room when my nurse open the door and screamed at the top of her lungs "why are you just standing there, my patient tripped and almost fell, what's wrong with you. You should help me."

I made sure patient was ok (she didn't fall, she tripped as she was walking and talking to the nurse) and told my clinical instructor to assign me to another nurse. She said "yeah, we had the problem with this nurse before" and she reassigned me.

Towards the end of my shift, I overheard charge nurse talking to the mean nurse. She informed her that medical director complained that she never smile or talk. I was thinking "ok, but screaming on top of her lungs in front of the patient and patient's family at 7am is ok?" I was just buffled that no one cared, it seems like some nurses can act any way they want and professionalism is something some nurses forgot and they still can get away with it.

I had a nurse yell at me once in clinical about something stupid, the PCA was late and she didn't have a blood sugar and I too was just "standing there" or something. who knows. Nurses who have crap days will act like that, its not you at all. Don't worry about it or think too much, shake it off. I always love to think about how sucky these nurses probably were when they first started. Trust me, things can get hectic, but when I precept, I never forgot where I started. some people seem to forget that, oh well!!!

Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Checked today in several DE units. Everything staff RNs get is free CEs which can be accounted toward license continuation. Not a cent more.

Instructor RN has 12 students under her and paid significantly less for this shift than I was making in LTACH day shift PRN. Plus she is expected to "help" with admits and discharges. Ridiculous.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Attibuting this nurse's behavior due to a bad is why we have bullying in nursing, as we condone this behavior. Stop making excuses to why this nurse treated this student like crap. Every single one of you have been in the place of the student once, yet act as if you have forgotten this. Ignoring a student is passive aggressive behavior. Screaming at the student is inappropriate. Perhaps the "not smiling reprimand" is a key sign to a major potential problem; burn out is more than likely occurring, but that does not mean it is okay to behave like this.

This nurse didn't treat the student like anything. It was never about the student. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time (not her fault) and got caught in the crossfire. That's it. She needs to stop personalizing this nurse's behaviour.

And this nurse's behaviour is not being condoned by anyone. Not in her workplace; not on this site. But most of us see it as symptomatic of a huge problem that has nothing to do with the student. We don't know what's going on with that nurse but something is certainly very wrong and needs to be addressed. But not by the student.

This would be an example of a good attitude by the student: "Well, THAT sucked. I hope whatever's wrong with that nurse, she gets help. And I hope I don't have too many more experiences like that."

The student's current attitude: "How could this happen to ME!? I don't deserve that! I've already had a bad week! I deserve respect! I hope she gets punished!"

Do you see the difference? Which attitude do you think will help her be more resilient to the crap that she can't change during her career?

Perhaps you missed the part where the instructor indicated this nurse has been known to be a problem. That alone indicates her behavior has been condoned up until this point. I don't understand why institutions let burn out continue, when there are obvious warning signs here. Firing this nurse is not the answer. Giving the nurse time to recover from burn out and perhaps find a position she will love again. I will point out that I do think it is petty and vengeful to wish for someone to be fired, especially when the root of the issue hasn't been discovered.

This student has the right to be upset here, but I do agree her follow up replies are over the top. I put in my comment prior to reading her comment about not staying in nursing long. If this is already a thought, don't even finish school. Patients deserve nurses who will give it their all and not one that will half ass it until they can jump to something else. Don't be that person OP. Don't wish for a nurse to lose her job because you got yelled at and ignored. I am now bloody irritated I defended the original post before I saw your catty replies.

Specializes in PCU, Critical Care, Observation.

Sounds like you both had a bad day. My best advice is to not dwell on it. Not every nurse likes being assigned a student. Don't take it personally. And don't allow one person to get to you the way she has. Learn from it & move forward.

Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
Perhaps you missed the part where the instructor indicated this nurse has been known to be a problem. That alone indicates her behavior has been condoned up until this point.

I am not sure that I agree with that. The Instructor doesn't necessarily know what is going on with the nurse (bad day, burnout, just tired of entitled students etc)and/or the employment hx, and should not ever say that to students (the nurse is a known problem). If the Instructor knows (for what ever reason) a nurse is having a hard time, doesn't like students etc, then the Instructor should not assign students to that nurse, or if no choice, just say nothing, or at least a more general response (it is not that nurses turn for students so just bear with her etc). And the nurse "screaming at the student" isn't necessarily a sign of burnout so much as a systemic problem in the hospital. And by this point in the discussion I would also consider the source of the "screaming" comment.

Now you know the type of nurse you DON'T want to be right? Some people just don't like training. Some people are not meant to train others. Some don't have the personality for it. Maybe this nurse is struggling with her career choice, second guessing why she does what she does. Sounds like burn-out to me. From my experience, if I know a day pror that I will be training a student or nurse then I can allow myself to prepare for it. Maybe in this instance the nurse didn't have the chance to prepare herself for a day of training someone. That always pisses me off when I show up to work and find i've been assigned to train. This behavior could all be linked to some anxiety the nurse experiencing. Either way her attitude was unacceptable and most importantly probably not directed at you personally.

Specializes in NICU.

Although one day u may be in that grouchy nurses shoes,I hope you handle it better.As the reprimand for not smiling is just a ******** excuse by the lazy manager to blame the nurse for the patients complaints ,instead of helping out with a heavy assignment,(but they never do,that is why they leave the bedside).Some of the responses here , by those that should show some form of empathy [you are brand new and unproven after all] to your situation, is an example of what you might encounter in your career,you do the best job,look out for your unit,be helpful and courteous but those that want to bite ...make sure you put the fear of retribution into their nasty little moods.

Op. My two cents is that you are NOT in the wrong to feel the way you felt. Regardless of someone having a bad day, it is NOT ok to treat a co-worker that way. And yes, you were a co-worker on many levels. Generally nurses will get asked if they want students and/or they get paid more to have a student. On top of that , she should have felt blessed that she had an extra pair of hands, eyes, ears, etc following her around to help her out with the difficult patient. I have seen it many times, and experienced it myself as a nursing student. And guess what...I took on students once i was able to and I NEVER treated them like that. Disgusting and that nurse should be ashamed of herself and her lack of self control and professionalism. Yes it is ok to have a bad day, but its really crappy when THEIR bad day turns into everyone else's bad day too. Misery loves company

Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

I recall an incident that happened as a student.

I had a not nice experience with a nurse in my second year who was horrible. The only consolation I had was that I observed this nurse being horrible to pretty much anyone, nurses, doctors etc so it wasnt me especially. She told me she didn't think I had what it took to be a registered nurse because I was lacking in the basics.

(I had to bite my tounge to not say "if being a nurse means being a mean nasty cow like you, then you are quite right I dont have what it takes)

Instead looking it an an opportunity to learn from the situation I said out loud "Can you give me an idea of what you think I need to improve on?"

The stunned look on face was priceless. It was a great learning opportunity for me. I learned that day when people are coming at me with contructive feedback it is always specific eg "Tenebrae, I want you to go home and research this procedure, and the potential side effects" when feedback comes from a different motivation such as it was from this nurse the feedback is always very vagues. This nurse said "oh just go and learn the basics, the nursing basics"

We all know how much information is contained within the 'nursing basics"

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
This would be an example of a good attitude by the student: "Well, THAT sucked. I hope whatever's wrong with that nurse, she gets help. And I hope I don't have too many more experiences like that."

The student's current attitude: "How could this happen to ME!? I don't deserve that! I've already had a bad week! I deserve respect! I hope she gets punished!"

Do you see the difference? Which attitude do you think will help her be more resilient to the crap that she can't change during her career?

Perfectly said.

Just a patient- as others have said, this nurse very well may have just been having a bad day. Wanting her fired is a bit over the top. I have had experiences (thankfully not many in the hospital) in life where workers were rude but I never wanted them fired. I just let it go. We all have bad days. It stings when someone projects their anger on you, unfortunately that's how some people deal with things or if they have had enough and need a break.

I had a nurse who cared for me right after my operation, when I called and asked for my urinal (I couldn't reach it) she was very snippy with me, used a very nasty tone, but about 15 minutes later without me even calling her, she entered the room and asked if I was done. She told me she wanted apologize for the way she acted a few minutes ago, I accepted.

I later found out (she told me) she was going through a separation and had a five year old daughter who was very upset that mommy and daddy don't live together anymore and it hurt her to see her daughter so upset. She told me "I'm normally very friendly and happy and a bit of a push over but this really got me today" I understood. I had her for 2 shifts after that and she was a great nurse and friendly. My point is you never know what someone is going through. I'm sure it wasn't easy for my nurse to apologize but I bet that made her feel better knowing that I wasn't upset with her or worst wanted her fired. I'm very easy going, but I have my days as well.

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